ARE BANKRUPTCY LAWYERS REALLY ALL THE SAME?
I was having a conversation not too long ago with a bankruptcy lawyer in Fairfax, VA who has been practicing bankruptcy law for almost as long as I have been alive. He told me something that day that really struck a chord with me.
This Fairfax bankruptcy lawyer told me that people buy the lawyer and not the lawyer’s service. Bankruptcy is bankruptcy. Most clients perceive little difference in the quality of the service provided by competing bankruptcy firms. Is that your perception? Do you think all bankruptcy attorneys are the same? Think again. Read this article from MSN titled “13 ways to avoid a bad bankruptcy attorney”
HERE ARE 6 GOOD REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD HIRE ME AS YOUR BANKRUPTCY ATTORNEY.
- I am a consumer bankruptcy attorney. Bankruptcy work is what I do day in and day out. And with the exception of the occasional uncontested divorce, this is all I do. My time and energy is devoted to one thing and one thing only, bankruptcy law.
- I will be handling your case from start to finish. I do not believe in delegating duties. The paralegal or secretary will not be handling your case. I will be. When you call and email -and believe me there will be many calls and emails through out your case- you will be speaking with me and me only.
- If you have found my website through Google or Yahoo then you have probably noticed that I have a number of reviews from past bankruptcy clients .I think that you will find that the reviews have one overriding theme: I provide exceptional service to my client. I do my very best to treat them the way I would treat a member of my family, not merely a name on a file. Remember: While you may not be my only client, you will certainly feel like you are!
- Fees. You are in the midst of filing for bankruptcy and you certainly do not want to pay an arm and a leg. I get that. I am far from being the most expensive attorney in the area, but I am not the cheapest either. My fees are reasonable in other words.
- Your interest comes before mine. That means that if it turns out that filing for bankruptcy is not a good idea at this time –and those situations do come up- I will be the first to tell you.
- One of my mottos is “no forms, no hassle.” You are stressed and preoccupied so the last thing that I want you to do is to spend hours filling out a 20 page bankruptcy questionnaire. I prefer to talk face to face and to get the information from you in person. Besides, there is only so much that can be conveyed through some forms.
HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS THAT CAN GO WRONG IF YOU HIRE THE WRONG BANKRUPTCY LAWYER:
- Your calls and emails do not get answered and if they do they are not being answered by the bankruptcy lawyer you hired.
- You show up at the creditors hearing only to find out that since the documents were not sent to the bankruptcy trustee in a timely fashion by your bankruptcy attorney, that you will have to come back in a couple of weeks. Taking a half day off work to come back to Alexandria, VA is not fun.
- Perhaps you are pretty “upside down” on your car loan, and you miss out on a sweet heart deal to buy your car back at its current fair market value through a process called redemption. But, because your bankruptcy attorney forgot to mention this option you are stuck with your current car loan.
- Your bankruptcy lawyer forgets to mention the little detail of having to continue to pay your condo fees after your chapter 7 case is filed. Now, 8 months later, you find yourself getting sued despite the fact that you no longer live there.
- Your bankruptcy attorney is not intimately familiar with recent bankruptcy Supreme Court cases such as Lanning or Ransom, or the intricacies of the means test. You end up in a chapter 13 when it should have been a chapter 7. Now you have thousands of dollars in payments to make, possibly for the next five years.
- Your bankruptcy lawyer tells you that he is only going to charge you XXX number of dollars for the chapter 13 bankruptcy case, but fails to emphasize that there will also be a number of a la carte fees prior to confirmation. Each time he has to amend the plan for instance, you get charged.
- Your bankruptcy attorney screws up. Fails to timely record the necessary homestead deed in order to preserve your exemptions thereby putting your assets in jeopardy. Your bank account, tax refunds, equity in your car, etc. is now at risk of having to be forfeited.
- Your bankruptcy lawyer, not a member of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys perhaps, forgets to tell you that if you have a substantial amount of money with Wachovia/Wells Fargo that you need to ensure that the money is removed from there prior to the filing of your case. You find out the hard way when your account gets frozen by the bank.
- Your bankruptcy attorney fails to ensure that your old taxes get discharged in your chapter 7 bankruptcy case. Who says tax debt is never dischargeable?!
- Your bankruptcy lawyer fails to pull up a title report on your home, fails to recognize that a number of judgment liens have been recorded, and omits (or worse, does not know) to take the necessary steps to get rid of the judgment lien(s); good luck trying to sell/refinance your home at some point down the line.
- Your bankruptcy attorney loses sight of the fact that you have your money with Pentagon Federal Credit Union for instance, the same credit union that also has your car loan. You file your bankruptcy case and next thing you know you are in a panic, your bank account has just been frozen and your checks are bouncing. The credit union was simply exercising its right to a setoff.
I can go on and on, but I think you get the point. When it comes to filing for bankruptcy the devil is in the details. For most people filing for bankruptcy is a once in a lifetime event. You want to make sure that you are in good hands; after all you have a lot on the line. And you want to make sure that your bankruptcy lawyer does not merely get you past the finish line, but gets you there without getting battered and bruised.
Call now to set up your free initial consultation. You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain. Take the first step towards financial freedom. Contact me for that initial free consultation.
